Action Plan
What Can I Do?
Educating Myself
While there is not much I can do to change the education system, I learned that there were many unconventional types of education, such as Waldorf Education, Montessori Education, and Enki Education. These educational styles differ from mainstream education in the ways that they teach children. I was able to interview Emily Aversa, an Enki educator who left mainstream education because she felt she could be teaching kids in a more exciting way.
Enki Education uses the arts (stories, music, etc.) to help students learn and understand schoolwork more deeply. It is a way to reverse the Western mainstream idea of proving yourself to get results instead of genuinely learning. Enki educators encourage children to look through a contemplative lens like all major religions do (Enki itself does not endorse any religion, but uses the contemplative piece to help further their message). Our education system has told us to base our worth off the grade we get. At the heart of Enki Education is the idea that students are all worthy of love and respect, no matter their grades.
While more mainstream schools are founded on the idea that teachers have to teach everything with no sense of discovery, Enki teachers instill a sense of trust into the kids that the teachers believe in them and that they are worthy, and can fuel their own discoveries. This is done through freeing children "with learning without the burden of memorization". Students are learning to be more engaged, making deeper connections, and reaching standards that are actually attainable to them. Through Enki education, students are encouraged to connect to the material rather than collect material. Students are reaching their developmental needs through Enki Education, and it is extremely beneficial to their learning habits.
Educating My Community
Another aspect of my action plan was educating my community about the injustices that go on within the high school system. I wanted everyone to see that the pressure to be perfect is not just an individual problem, but instead a nationwide one. To do this, I presented a slideshow on April 13 with all my information about this injustice. I presented this with Ananya Barton-Shiner, whose injustice is about how social media affects body image in teenage girls. Together, we showed how mental health is affected in teenage girls and the consequences.
